Science Fiction for Old Farts

The Forbidden Planet Non-Remake

Ok, so Mike Glyer over at File 770 called my rant and found out that the “remake” of Forbidden Planet is not going to be a re-do, but rather a sequel to the 1950s classic.

That gives me a little more hope.

My thoughts naturally turn to wondering the nature of such a sequel. Leslie Nielsen is still very much around, so it is entirely possible for him to put in an appearance as an Admiral – or a washed out space bum.

Could it be that the Krell had interstellar travel? Could it be that Dr. Morbius somehow survived his encounter with his Id? Does Altaira go on to become some futuristic version of Paris Hilton, flitting from party to party throughout known space? Does Robbie go into business for himself distilling the finest spirits this side of the Crab Nebula?

Only Mr. Straczyinsky knows for sure.

Interestingly and serendipitously enough, I’ve been recovering my book collection from the numbered and indexed boxes they’ve been inhabiting for several years (I HATE HATE HATE not being able to look at my books) and I ran across the following:

This is the Paperback Library’s first edition (1967) of the novelization of the movie. Its prior copyright is listed as Loews Incorporated, 1956.

Pretty good non-traditional rendering of Robbie right there (his antenna are a bit large and ungainly though) and I’d have shown the Krell city in the background; neither of those people look like Leslie Nielsen either…

Didn’t know they did novelizations back then, huh? Written by W.J. Stuart. Who I’ve not yet had a chance to investigate.

Here’s an excerpt

“In all the annals of Space History as known to man, there is surely no stranger tale than what befell the crew of the Cruiser C-57-D when it reached its objective, the planet Altair-4. Like all Cruisers sent on these investigatory missions, it carried a smaller crew than the big Space Ships, only twenty-one in all. Its Commander and Chief Pilot was John Adams.”